


Earth's Shield

by LuLuma



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aliens, Character Death, F/M, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 00:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13376577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuLuma/pseuds/LuLuma
Summary: On humanity's prosperous days, they enter an era of incredible technological harmony. However, mankind is struck by a dangerous foe, bringing Jack Darby along with it.





	Earth's Shield

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings! Welcome to my first posted fanfiction in this site, I hope you have a good read.  
> As a disclaimer, I declare that I do not own Transformers Prime or their characters.  
> OC's are all mine.

A soldier lay on his berth, turning left and right in the hopes of achieving a well deserved rest, but it never came. He had a hard time dealing with his heavy consciousness after today's occurrences; a flashback of a heavy battle against the worst enemy of humanity, and a false alarm.

The man groaned as he sat up in his berth - it had been months since humanity had escaped Earth and were now leaving their homeworld in a vessel. Usually, he'd go for a walk in the halls if he ever found himself restless. However, today, he didn't feel like wandering, he felt like sleeping a little more, especially with his tired legs after an already mentioned brief false alarm that had just happened a few hours ago. He stood up and walked to his dormitory's window with the glass lightly reflecting his transparent appearance.

He was a raven-haired man with pale skin and a tonal gunmetal-blue coloured eyes, his face scorned with a single diagonal scar that marked from his forehead, over his nose and dissipating on his muscular chin.

This man was Jackson Darby; he was a Corporal of First Armor Squad of the Protectorate, and one of the few that survived the Human-Scourge conflict.

He turned from his reflection and focused on the cosmos - he still couldn't believe that they were leaving their galaxy, the Milky Way, a galaxy that humanity resided on for a very long time, and they were leaving it because of a plague.

He lay his head down to feel the soft enveloping feel of the pillow on the back of his head. Closing his eyes and relaxing for a few seconds, he found himself sleeping once more.

The year was 2054.

Humanity had drastically advanced themselves in the technological aspect, something that many didn't expect to happen over the decades, as the Third World War almost commenced, due to a few grave misunderstandings between nations. Luckily, the issue was resolved before a grave conflict unleashed itself in the world, one that would potentially kill the majority of the human populace, with the menacing power of their nuclear weaponry.  
This wonder work that advanced them was designated as Kelta Energy. It shattered any wall that held humanity back technologically, and turned the impossible to the possible. Kelta Energy expanded through the world as part of the new globalization, and improved a lot of common and complex things, for the better. Automobiles, for instance, now ran on the Energy rather than petrol.

The industries also greatly changed. The introduction of the Keltan Energy to the market also meant that pollution was almost no longer an issue, save for some nations in the Middle-East and other Third World countries that still had to make use of the traditional way of industrializing (XXI Century Industries).

However, this technological harmony was short-lived. The work of strange intelligent extraterrestrial species that struck mankind in times of glory, had unleashed an unholy war amongst the two races. These highly dangerous and toxic specimen commonly were known as...

The Scourge.

At first, humans had spotted something on the atmosphere, then it escalated, followed by multiple video sightings of UFOs all over the world recorded by civilians and posted on social media and whatnot.  
Speculations rose and grew each day that passed, until it had finally gotten out of hand. The media grasped this matter one day and it showed up on all news networks in the planet. The sightings were very frequent, and one time an UFO even hovered over France's capital, Paris. The French Land Army were, of course, all deployed and at attention in the city, still with the conventional XXI Century Military Equipment. French citizens were startled and intrigued, as their media uproared on the sight.

And whilst they were naive to think that this species were friendly and were actually wishing to communicate with us, little did they know, that those sightings were actually threats of an impending invasion, and despite the evasion of the nuclear war, it was the beginning of humanity's darkest conflict.

The extraterrestrial were confirmed to be hostile when they attacked the United Kingdom... and thus beginning the Scourge war.

With the news of the Scourge attacking the United Kingdom hastily spreading to other countries, the whole world was preparing for possibly the worst conflict in human history. Military productions were boosted in all countries.

Jack Darby was only sixteen when all of this occurred. When the war was unleashed in Europe, he lived with his father, Chris Darby, who worked as a police officer in Orlando, Florida. With the absence of Jack's mother, Chris was the pillar that held the house together with his medium-wage income. He feared that one day he would never go back home if an incident like a shootout or a crash ever happened; the fact that Florida's crime rates were increasing didn't help his judgement.

And for that reason, he wanted to emancipate his son as fast as he possibly could, who in turn, was already working as a cashier in a Keltan station as his part-time job.

Chris Darby led a normal life with his son for several months after the plaguer attack in London. Until one day, American citizens living in the South and East were evacuated to the Midwest, having to reside in evacuation camps. Definitely not the best lifestyle, but it would have to do, as the grave situation called for it, considering the menace of the plaguers.

Whilst some of the military were deployed to the South and set defenses in case the Scourge came, others were sent to the United Kingdom to aid them against the Scourge. This was a battle for mankind, after all.

All countries were in a state of emergency, especially those located in Europe. The soldiers of the United Kingdom and the United States fought bravely against the Scourge forces, but the military found out the hard way, that it was futile to resist against them. Firearms were proven obsolete. The soldiers sent to combat the threat weren't effective with the conventional weaponry, and were all brutally slaughtered - the Scourge left almost no men standing in this battle.

Humanity's first battle against the plaguers was a catastrophe. Both U.S and U.K suffered heavy losses when compared to the nearly invincible forces of the Scourge, whose nightmarish creatures couldn't even be wounded by a firearm or grenade.

The governments took note of this massacre.

The United States Department of Defense concluded that they would have to use all their available military arsenal to engage this threat. They mobilized all military branches, Army, Air Force, and the Navy, to try and aid the U.K Forces once more.  
And once again, they failed. High-caliber weapons were just as unavailing as small caliber, Armored Infantry, planes, and even the Naval weaponry of the destroyers could only do little to the dangerous extraterrestrial ranks, as they even had air superiority.

The governments of nations from all over the world considered utilizing their nuclear weaponry, being very well aware that not even the mightiest firepower could dent a plaguer.  
However, a new problem was arising.  
The Scourge forces doubled. Having the upper hand in terms of transportation, they advanced throughout the rest of the European continent. Surprisingly, they were targeting nuclear silos, even detonating one in the process. To humanity's disdain, the plaguers still lived through the nuclear explosion and radiation with no harm done to them.

Mankind needed a weapon to retaliate against the ruthless Scourge creatures.

And fast.

And thus, the Protectorate Program was born. A Planetary Defense Organization created in times of war on which objective was simple: To protect Earth. Many soldiers and civilians from all over the world were encouraged to join the cause, working in the intelligence, research, or military sectors. With newly recruited scientists, mainly from European countries, they wasted no time experimenting. In their research, they designed a plausible weapon that could merely stun a Scourge.

They accomplished the manufacturing of the weapon that would prove itself in the battlefield against the plaguers. But mankind still needed a definitive defense weapon that was capable of destroying their foes, rather than stunning them and allowing them to fight another day.

However, this defense weapon was impossible to manufacture without having the necessary materials and information at hand. And one of those materials included something very dangerous...

While England was still a relentless and unforgiving battlefield, despite Martial Law being proclaimed a few days after the massacre, there were still forces stationed on safe positions. Those particular forces, from the U.S and U.K, had a very dangerous task to complete:

Capturing a Scourge.

Those brave soldiers of humanity knew very well that this was a very risky task to do, and no doubt would they suffer heavy losses, almost a suicide attack... But sacrifices had to be made in order to win.

SAS and U.S Operatives had set up an ambush on a street. The plan was to try and stun the creature with the new weapon that the Protectorate scientists created, one that resembled a rail gun, interestingly hybridizing with an Anti-Tank rifle. It was denominated the "X-01". The first weapon designed specifically for Scourge combat, of massive electric power that could send a high amount of volts if its cable connected to one. It was the first taser that could stun a Scourge, allowing for easy capturing of the creatures.

After a few days, the soldiers stationed in England successfully captured a plaguer, albeit suffering from heavy losses, barely accomplishing the mission. The sacrifices weren't in vain for the Protectorate Program scientists. In mankind's fortune, they managed to experiment with the captured creature without any incidents and designed humanity's second tool of retaliation, the definitive defense weapon: The Core Armors.

Core Armors were manufactured with a very rare metal, on which they denominated: "Klonium". This new metal was introduced when constructing the suits. Information about its extraction and attainments were all highly classified to the public and even to the majority of the Protectorate's personnel, even if they worked inside of the Intelligence Sector.  
Nevertheless, for fortunate events, it had proven to be quite resistant against Scourge attacks.  
The Core Armors were also designed to enhance the user's physical and mental capabilities when deployed, allowing the suit's wielder to adapt quickly and excel in combat.

Klonium Metal was also very important for weapon construction, with the High Command considering its use to build new ammunition cartridges. Yet, that was a problem...

Unfortunately, the scientists could only report that this metal was scarce and extremely hard to acquire. In consequence, only three hundred units of the suit were manufactured, and with the metal lacking, this also meant that the manufacturing of the new projectiles would be unavailing for human war efforts. Instead, the Command decided it was best to 'travel' back in times, where they would construct cold steel weapons to use against the plaguers. Such as swords, considering the lack of Klonium.

After one year passed, with time flying by, and the Scourge keeping their ruthless assault on the European, African, and Asian continents, greatly reducing the humanity world population from billions to millions, it was finally time to see the Core Armors in action.

When the first ever created Core Armor company, the Slashers, were expedited to the European continent, the results were outstanding, as the band of Core Armored soldiers had successfully neutralized four Scourges, but in consequence, suffered from four heavily wounded soldiers.

Fortunately, the four soldiers had survived their nearly mortal wounds, and continued to work within the Slashers. The sacrifices from conventional forces in the past year hadn't been in vain, after all.

Over the months, the Slashers had became quite famous in the Protectorate for their bravery and exceptional swordsmanship in battle. Alongside other squadrons, they were the oldest company in service, and certainly the best choice against the Scourge plaguery.

But even so, the tides still weren't turned, and mankind still had a long way to go to completely annihilate the Scourge and obtain freedom once again.

The Core Armors were now the standard gear for the human soldier in the battlefield, but the issue of the Klonium's scarcity remained.

Another year had passed since the first ever expedition outside of safety in the continents of North and South America. Jack Darby had enlisted in the military a few months after the successful second battle. Now eighteen years old, he only wished to retake the lost peaceful world that humanity had previously resided with harmony within, and to completely destroy the Scourge, so to not let them do this to humanity ever again.

He had passed through boot camp and was currently waiting to be assigned for duty. He remembered his father telling him not to go, that he would die. Although expressing his concern, Jack dismissed his father, as he couldn't just stand still and wait for a race of plaguers to conquer his planet and finish off humanity. He would fight.

After three weeks of waiting for an assignment, it had finally come. He was assigned, as a Protectorate Military Cadet, to serve the Protectorate in the newly formed First Armour Squad. Content with the events, he decided to speak with his father about the matter, but just as he expected, his father was against the idea.

Departing from the Military Base he was previously stationed in, he bid his final farewells to his father and traveled to the Main Protectorate Headquarters for his assignment. There, he met his brothers in arms, and did intensive training, to be able to acquire the armor.

Klonium Metal was very limited, he was informed. And this meant that ammunition was going to be lacking and for this reason, he chose a sword as his preference weapon, and a shield for his defense, in spite of the already existing Kelta powered arms, that were often utilized to stun the enemy.

His blade was similar to a helicopter's helix; it could joint itself and form a blade with two edges on each side, and it could also separate and form a double blade. It also presented a small hilt, allowing one-handed use for both modes. It had red-tainted edges, indicating which position the edges were located in the blade, allowing easier performance of slashes, the former facilitating the use in combat as well. It was perfect to use with his shield in combination.

The shield, for its part, was a replica of the Kite Model Shield. Being silver-coloured, it was also possible to expand ten inch armored plates on each side when pressed to the ground, for more protection. It was also possible to strike with the end of the shield, as it also presented a edge, allowing the possibility of the wielder dealing more damage if he decided to perform a thrust.

At first practice with his sword and shields in training, Jack Darby performed surprisingly well, but his forms presented a lot of openings, that even a newly-formed Scourge could make use of it to its own advantage and strike.

In training, Jack had made friends with quite a few people.

The first friend was a young female Cadet. Her name was Sylvia Göpfer and she was of German nationality. Just like him, she had raven-coloured hair. The only difference was it being shoulder-length. She had pale skin, and almost voluptuous curvatures. To top, her eyes were crystal-green.

They would often train together in sessions, seeking to improve their abilities to ensure their survival in the battlefield, with her weapon of preference being a War Hammer.

The second was Thomas Chyler. He had a decently built muscular frame and was gutsy, with honey blonde hair and anthracite-coloured eyes. Though, he almost always laid on his buttocks during a training session, because he had chosen a ranged Kelta-powered gun. He was of American nationality, and the youngest of the group after Sylvia.

Third and last but not least, a former SAS Operative, and one of the survivors of the First Battle of Humanity against the Scourge. He was William Logers, with a thin, yet muscular frame. He had auburn-coloured hair and forest-coloured eyes. He was usually the one who assisted their training, as he was considered a natural leader, his weapon of preference being a replica of an European long sword. He was of British nationality, and the oldest of the group.

The squad of four Cadets trained together for ten arduous weeks, improving their skills in combat, their leadership abilities, and even marksmanship... if they ever needed to neutralize human threats.

Each of the four surpassed the standard Protectorate Soldier's requirements to achieve the Core Armor. The top four Cadets graduated and were congratulated a day ago. Now all that was left for them to do was go to a certain quarter in the Protectorate facility and retrieve their armor.

The day after their graduation, they walked to the "Armor Ceremony" quarters, as the personnel in the facility called it. Through the headquarters campus, the quartet excitedly conversed among themselves, with the occasional wind breeze pleasantly ventilating them as they walked to their ordered quarters.

"So, are you guys happy or what? I can't believe we're finally getting our armor and going out on the field!" Sylvia excitedly began, Jack chuckling at her vivacity. William momentarily glared at the jumpy graduate before sighing and looking away.

"Yeah, I am happy we made it this far for the armor, but I wouldn't be too excited to visit the fields if I were you. You have no idea what those things can do," William spoke with a slight tone of venom in his tone of voice.

Sylvia merely pouted with exasperation; she knew he was right and didn't mean bad, but he certainly could be a dream-shatterer at times.

Thomas joined in, "Aw, don't be like that, Will. I'm sure we can kick some alien ass with those armors! The Slashers are the proof of that! Right, Sylvia?"

"That's right, they won't stand a chance with us together."

William only shook his head with a groan. Sylvia turned to look at Jack. He was surprisingly quiet. In turn, he was also looking at her in awe while the others conversed. She smiled and winked at him, chuckling when Jack blushed and looked away.

They ceased their chatter when they noticed they were reaching their destination. The structure resembled a planetarium, with a dome shaped structure atop of a simple rectangular shaped ten meter tall building. The four Cadets walked toward the building's entrance, taking note that there were already Protectorate CO's (Commanding Officers/Commissioned Officers) expecting their arrival. The Officers led them in the building.

On the inside, the halls could only be described as something out of a science-fiction movie. Although humanity had indeed achieved the incredible power of Keltan Energy, it was astonishing that the Protectorate managed to construct something so advanced in so little time.

As the quartet walked along with their two Officers, occasionally walking between hall intersections and turning either left or right, with the COs briefly giving them a "tour" of the facility, they had finally come across a gate with what looked like an eye scanner to the side. Beyond would be the Core Armor Room.

It was finally time.

One of the officers stepped forth and set his eyes on the scanner. The scanner confirmed personnel authority after a few seconds and unlocked the metal gate. Pressurizers hissed as the gates slowly opened. The four Cadets eagerly waited, the rewarding feeling of success filling their emotions each moment that they spent in awe.

They only waited for the gate to open.

After time, they did. The Officers led the graduates inside.

The room, walls, and floors were painted white. They viewed the room, watching the scientists actively working on a project. Jack assumed it was most likely one that would improve their armors, but he couldn't tell what it was. He could only make out frames of what looked like some sort of vehicle... again, he couldn't tell, as the project was obscured by a pitch-black curtain.

As the quartet of graduates were led out of the laboratory and into the main halls, they went on an elevator and descended deeper into the facility.

The group of six disembarked and proceeded into another room.

This one's interior had circular surroundings, with four sphere-shaped cells hovering in the center. They came to a halt as they walked to the front of the hovering cells.

With a hiss, the cells descended to the ground and disappeared in minuscule hexagon-shaped particles.

And it was in this memorable day that Jack met his eternal shield.


End file.
